Heathrow today repeated calls for the government to approve Covid airport testing with a warning that quarantine restrictions are “strangling the economy”.
The plea came as the London hub revealed that it handled just 1.4 million passengers in August – less than a fifth of what is usually seen in the peak summer month.
August passenger demand fell by 81.5% year-on-year as long-haul routes remained closed by the government’s 14-day quarantine policy.
Traffic to North American was down by 95%, Asia-Pacific and Latin America by 92% and Africa by 90%.
Heathrow said: “More than 30 airports are already using testing as a safe alternative to 14-day quarantine and getting their economies moving – Frankfurt airport has overtaken Heathrow, an early warning that Britain’s economy will fall behind if we don’t protect our global trading network.
“Heathrow has now trialled three rapid point of care testing solutions and has a facility for testing passengers on arrival. The airport is ready to go on testing and waiting on government to make a decision.
“Heathrow urges the government to introduce testing as an alternative to 14-day quarantine to protect millions of jobs across the UK and to kick-start the economic recovery.
“A robust testing regime should form part of a suite of measures as no one action in the fight against Covid-19 can be seen as a silver bullet.”
The airport’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “Britain’s economic recovery is falling behind.
“Heathrow’s traffic figures for August demonstrate the extent to which quarantine is strangling the economy, cutting British businesses off from their international markets and blocking international students, tourists and investors from coming here to spend money.
“The government has announced it is looking at the options for reducing quarantine for passengers who test negative for Covid-19 – but ministers urgently need to turn words into action. Every day of further government delay costs British jobs and livelihoods.”